


MJ and Ned, Ned and MJ

by tvfanatic97



Series: MJ and Peter's Family [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 10:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19107904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvfanatic97/pseuds/tvfanatic97
Summary: How MJ and Ned grow closer as MJ and Peter's relationship progresses through the years.





	MJ and Ned, Ned and MJ

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to MJ and May, May and MJ as in they take place in the same universe. So read both because it kind of offers a timeline of Peter and MJ's relationship altogether.

**_Crushes_ **

When Peter returns after the Thanos ordeal, Ned essentially forces all three of them to form a little friendship group; that’s an exaggeration because, one: Ned is far too soft to ever really be forceful about anything, and two: MJ would never have to be forced to be friends with someone as kind-hearted and selfless as Peter (she’ll deny saying any of that about Peter if ever asked though).

MJ’s relieved that Ned doesn’t abandon her the way her insecurities would often tell her he would during the time Peter was gone. He actually goes above and beyond to ensure the two of them maintain the friendship they’d formed between them whilst Peter was away, with Ned still insisting they spend their Sunday afternoons together at his place hanging out just the two of them.

Whilst Peter is out patrolling and helping old ladies cross the street, finding lost pets or whatever else Spider-Man does, the two of them stay in Ned’s room (with the door open per his mom’s rules about having girls over, no matter how much both of them insist there’s _nothing_ of the sort happening between them) and watch the High School Musical trilogy whilst playing an age-appropriate version of a drinking game where they have to eat a handful of M&Ms each time something on their list happens- i.e. Ryan wears a new hat, you see a basketball onscreen, Troy and Gabriella almost kiss etc. etc.

They eat far too much candy and end up feeling sickly partway through the second film but neither wants to quit the game, so they carry it on albeit much more sluggishly and with less of the excitement and urgency of before.

“So, Betty and I have been… _talking_ ,” Ned starts out of nowhere. He’s lying on his stomach with his head at the foot of his double bed where his laptop is placed between them whilst she’s slumped on her back, head resting on a mountain of pillows and cushions stolen from the living room at the head of the bed.

MJ wordlessly hums letting him know she’s listening and he can continue, partly because she feels too nauseous from all the chocolate to speak properly and partly because Ned would tell her regardless of whether she wanted to hear it or not. He equates friendship with what she initially viewed as oversharing about your life but has since come to view as regular “sharing”- she’s new to this friendship thing and is still learning a lot from Ned and now Peter, sue her.

Ned sighs dramatically, it almost sounds dreamy and wistful, before he rolls onto his back so he can face her slumped form whilst the film continues to play in the background; Chad and Ryan are currently flirting under the guise of a song about the similarities between dancing and baseball or...something. All MJ knows is that there are gay undertones in the scene she'd never picked up on watching it as a little kid.

“She texted me asking when our History homework is due, but Betty is so organised there’s no way she didn’t already know the due date and have it marked with a reminder in her phone, laptop and diary already, you know?”

MJ doesn’t respond, the question sounds rhetorical.

“So I think it was just an excuse to talk to me. She keeps doing that a lot, you know?”

Over the past few months of friendship she’s learnt to read Ned’s cues, know when to shut up and let him talk/vent aloud and when he needs input, so she knows this time he expects audience participation. “Oh, yeah?” she asks in a tone that she hopes perfectly shows enough interest for her to not come across like a cold bitch who doesn’t care about her best friend’s crush but not too much so as to encourage him to talk a little too much.

“Yeah. Like, the other day she came up to me when I was by my locker to ask me if I was still in Robotics Club. She’s not in Robotics and has never shown interest in it, MJ,” he says, voice rising an octave to convey the supposed significance of this event.

“That’s interesting, “MJ responds.

Ned sits up before carrying on, “That’s what I thought! Do you think- do you think maybe she might like me back?”

“Um,” MJ hesitates. She pauses to think back and note everything she’s observed about Betty’s behaviour where Ned is concerned, tries to remember if she’d heard anything whispered in the changing rooms or bathrooms. Once she puts all the clues together and reaches a conclusion she goes to finally respond, “I think-”

“Wait, look at who I’m asking,” Ned huffs, interrupting her before he collapses back onto the bed in mild frustration.

She sits up minutely so she can glare at him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I just meant, what’s the point in asking someone as oblivious as you?”

MJ reaches into the nearby pack of M&Ms and takes a handful out then throws them at Ned’s head in retaliation.

Ned tries to duck but a few of them still hit him before falling onto his bed. “If I accidentally sit on one of those and they melt they’re gonna leave stains on my duvet. Gross, MJ,” Ned complains as he moves around to pick up as many of them as he can find.

“You deserved that,” MJ retorts almost childishly. She sticks her tongue out at him whilst he’s looking away from her in search of the stray M&Ms- that’s definitely childish.

“I’m just saying-” Ned starts once he’s satisfied he has picked up all the candy. “You’re oblivious to someone liking you so you probably wouldn’t know if Betty likes me back.”

There is a beat of silence as MJ avoids meeting Ned’s gaze, looking around at the various movie posters that adorn the wall to avoid meeting his eye. Then another.

“Sharpay’s just insulted someone,” MJ says pointing to the laptop screen before throwing some M&Ms into her mouth.

Ned snorts before reaching into his own pack of M&Ms to grab one. “Avoidance? Nice. Super mature, MJ.”

“Shut up,” is all MJ says in response.

“When are we going to maturely talk about the fact that Peter _likes_ likes you like adults,” Ned challenges.

“How many times did you say the word “like” in that sentence?”

“MJ,” Ned sighs exasperatedly; he sounds exhausted, which is probably because this is a conversation they’ve had (well- Ned has tried to have it with her but she always changes the topic whenever it comes up) multiple times before. “I know both you and Peter really well, and I can tell you both like each other. You should do something about it.”

“Why don’t _you_ do something about your crush on Betty?” she retorts in a very petulant tone. She knows she's being quite immature about this, but after the conversation with May where she told her the exact same thing she’s a little defensive- read: _in denial_.

“If I ask Betty out will you ask Peter out?” Ned watches her with eyes narrowed, challenging her.

“Someone’s just mentioned college,” MJ says instead. It’s a cheap diversion tactic but she can’t be dealing with this right now.

Ned huffs but complies and eats some M&Ms all the same.

They sit in further silence, just watching the film and playing their little not-drinking game for a prolonged moment.

“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ask Betty if she wants to hang out when I next see her at school,” Ned declares all of a sudden.

And look, MJ would be lying if she said she wasn’t happy to hear this. All her Peter-related feelings and the fact that people around her won’t stop bringing it up aside, she secretly revels in all the high school romances. Well, just Ned and Betty’s one, or “Netty” as Ned had coined during a sleepover months ago where he first confessed his crush; though MJ refuses to call it that herself.

“I think that’s a great idea, Ned,” she affirms, and she genuinely means it. It’s so obvious that Betty likes him, it’s about time.

“Now if only you and Peter could get your-” he lowers his voice on the count of his open door and his mom potentially hearing, “-your _shit_ together, and get together that’d be even better.”

“Shut up,” she says and she throws M&Ms at his head again.

“Dammit MJ, I don’t want chocolate stains on my duvet. It’s gonna look like I…” Ned starts to rant as he shuffles around to pick up all the M&Ms but MJ is too busy laughing, too pleased with herself, to hear the rest of his words.

 

* * *

 

**_Boundaries_ **

Despite all her worries about her and Peter going to college in different states, things work out relatively okay. It’s initially hard going from seeing each other everyday and/or being able to just text him then have him swing over to see her in ten minutes flat, to seeing him just one weekend a month when one of them makes the trip to the other’s college, and sometimes less when they’re both drowning in assignments and tests.

This weekend is the first time they’ll be seeing each other in nearly two months because of mid-terms, and it’s worked out nicely that Ned is making the trip to New York to visit Betty at Pace meaning Peter will have their shared dorm to himself- or _they_ will have it to themselves.

MJ gets to Boston around mid-afternoon, when Peter has a break between the last of his mid-terms so he can let her into his dorm then leave her to sit his last one.

“Em,” Peter breathes out in a tone that’s meant to be final, but he barely pulls away from her. “MJ c’mon I need to go back to campus soon.”

MJ ignores him momentarily as she re-joins their lips, pressing insistent kisses over him. “I’m just saying hi,” she feigns innocence.

He lets out a sound that almost sounds like a whimper when her hands skirts across dangerous territory.

“Am I not allowed to say hi to my boyfriend?” She’s enjoying teasing him a little too much.

He finally pulls away from her and gets off the bed to put some distance between them. “That’s not what you were doing,” he huffs as he starts re-buttoning up his plaid overshirt.

“How dare you?” MJ says in a faux-outraged tone, like she’s offended at his accusation. “I was simply saying hi to my boyfriend who I haven’t seen in two months. It’s not my fault you reacted so _enthusiastically_.”

He grumbles, “How am I meant to sit my mid-term like this?”

MJ has to bite her lip to stifle a laugh since she’s playing innocent and all. Once she’s composed herself enough she speaks, “Are you gonna come straight back when you're done?”

“Should do,” he responds half-distractedly as he starts to gather his things to head back. “Unless I get a crime alert but I won’t stay out patrolling too long, promise.”

He comes to lean over her lying form and presses a chaste kiss, meant to be just a quick goodbye, to her lips. When she tries to deepen it he pushes her back onto the bed with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Nuh, uh,” he chastises. He laughs at her exaggerated pout.

“I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?” he calls behind him as he’s leaving the room.

“Good luck,” she calls after him just as the door closes behind his retreating form, leaving her alone in Peter and Ned’s room.

She tries to find things to do over the next few hours so she’s not just sitting there waiting for her boyfriend like some lovestruck idiot, which- _she is_ , but don’t tell anyone.

She whiles up the time by reading a bit of her book- and it feels so nice to read for pleasure after having spent the last couple of weeks only reading for school. When she gets bored of that she catches up on a few TV shows she couldn’t watch during mid-terms, then she writes a bit of her work in progress novel she’s been working on slowly over the last few months, and goes through her emails and messages until it’s nearing the time Peter is scheduled to finish his exam.

She calculates that provided he doesn’t get a crime alert, he’ll probably be back in about fifteen to twenty minutes. So she moves to go to her suitcase to grab the surprise she brought for him which she changes into before lying on the bed waiting for him.

Exactly sixteen minutes later- she _wasn’t_ counting, shut up- she hears the sound of someone on the other side of the door, so she rushes to grab her previously discarded novel so she can pretend to be reading it. Anything to avoid giving Peter the satisfaction of knowing she was waiting for him.

Instead of her boyfriend’s audible gasp at the sight of her in her lingerie followed by frenzied movements she’s expecting, what she hears instead is, “MJ, oh my God!” in a voice that sounds distinctly like Ned’s.

“Fuck,” she swears as she rushes to get off the bed to grab Peter’s discarded t-shirt on his desk chair. “What are you doing here?” she asks as she riffles through her bag to find something she can wear on her bottom half. She admittedly had no intention of really leaving the dorm so she didn’t pack many clothes to wear.

“This is _my_ dorm!” Ned protests. Then after a moment, “Please can you put some pants on?”

“Yeah, yeah give me a sec,” she brushes him off, now having moved to look through Peter’s clothes where she finally digs out a pair of his sweatpants to put on. “You can turn around, dork,” she teases when she notices he’s turned around to face the door.

“I’m traumatised,” Ned sighs dramatically before moving to flop on his own bed.

“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened before, let’s be real.” The trio had all agreed to never discuss valentine’s day in their senior high school and what Ned may or may not have seen.

“Where is Pete anyway?” Ned asks, pointedly ignoring her bringing up _the_ _incident_.

She makes vague hand gestures, pretending that she’s shooting out webs in answer to his question to which Ned only wordlessly nods before lying down on his back and staring up aimlessly at the ceiling.

MJ and Ned have been best friends for over two years and coming onto three years now, so she knows when something is bothering him. “Dude, what’s up? I thought you were supposed to be in New York spending time with Betty?” she asks once she’s sat down on Peter’s bed facing him.

Ned sighs then turns to lie on his side so he’s looking back at her. “I was meant to be staying there for the weekend, yeah, but Betty and I had a really big fight.” He pauses for a moment and MJ waits for him to continue, “It was really bad MJ, I think we could break up over this.”

His voice sounds so small and scared as he makes that admission and it causes something to twist and constrict in MJ’s chest and before she knows it she’s getting up from Peter’s bed and crossing the small gap to go to his bed. “Scoot over.”

Ned shuffles across the minimal space of his small bed to make room her, allowing her to settle in the bed beside him. She sits next to him, leaning up against the poor excuse of a headboard, and manoeuvres Ned so his head rests in her lap to allow her to run her hands through his hair.

“What happened?” She asks after a silent stretch where she just provides him the physical comfort she knows Ned cherishes and welcomes as a very physical person himself.

He sighs dejectedly before recounting the story to her, “I don’t know how it really happened but we were talking then before I knew it we were arguing about how I’m hiding something from her because I told her some shitty excuse for what I was doing that weekend I helped Peter fight the Rhino and didn’t pick up or answer her texts the whole day. She accused me of cheating on her and I tried to tell her I’d never do that and that I love her but I couldn’t answer when she asked me what I was really doing.”

His body shakes slightly, as he starts to cry into her lap. All MJ can do is continue to run her fingers through his hair and let him get it all out.

Eventually he stops crying. “Oh sorry, I made your sweatpants all wet and gross,” he says as he sits up, moving off her lap.

“Don’t worry they’re Peter’s,” she retorts with a sly wink, getting a small, barely-there snort out of Ned. It sounds sad, and lacks the usual lightness and humour of Ned’s laughs but it’s something, at least.

“Hey uh,” Ned scratches the back of his head nervously for a moment. “Is it okay if we just pretend the last half hour didn’t happen? I just kind of wanna not talk about or think about the fight for a bit.”

MJ pauses because she feels like this is something that can’t wait and they should talk about it now but she knows when to push and when to take a step back, it’s a dance she’s mastered with both Ned and Peter over the last few years. “Wanna order takeout and watch ‘The Good Place’?” she asks instead.

“Absolutely,” Ned says with a smile.

They talk and catch up as they wait for their food as The Good Place plays on Ned’s laptop. They eat as much of their food as they can, leaving some aside for Peter which they hide in Ned’s mini fridge so they can prank Peter and pretend they forgot to get him food when he gets back.

They continue their binge watch sprawled out on Ned’s bed with Ned lying on his stomach with his head at the foot of the bed whilst MJ lies with her head resting on the pillows at the head of the bed.

MJ interrupts the lulling silence they’d settled into, “Hey, Ned?”

“Sup?”

She waits, considers her words and how best to approach this before speaking up, “Have you ever considered talking to Peter about telling Betty he’s Spider-Man?”

Ned rolls over onto his back. “Um, no it’s- it’s just, uh, not my secret to tell, y’know.”

“I get it, but if it’s starting to affect your relationship then don’t you think maybe it might be worth telling Betty. After talking to Peter first, of course,” it’s a delicate balance trying to ensure she isn’t too forceful because to her the solution seems obvious.

“I just-” Ned starts then stutters, considers for a moment then carries on, “I know how much Peter likes to guard his secret identity and how much the fact that you, me and May know weighs on him because he feels like we could get hurt because of him. I don’t want to give him one more person to worry about getting hurt because of him, especially when Betty isn’t his family like we are.”

His argument makes sense but then, “Betty is important to you so she’s important to Peter too, Ned. I don’t think he could live with himself if he knew this caused you guys to break up. He’s always told me how he thinks you guys are gonna be together forever.”

“I don’t know,” Ned says with a long sigh.

“Just at least try to bring it up with Peter, okay?”

Ned goes to respond when their door swings open. “Bring up what with Peter?” the man in question asks as he walks into the room towards the pair.

“You’re so nosy,” MJ chastises her boyfriend.

“But you love it,” he retorts as he leans down to press a lingering kiss on her lips in greeting.

Their kiss is interrupted by Ned making exaggerated, very loud gagging noises.

“Do you want a kiss too?” Peter teases as he pulls away from MJ before moving to lean across to Ned with his lips comically puckered to try and give him a kiss.

Ned squirms away. “Dude, stop.”

The pair pretend to wrestle and fight for a while before they finally stop. Peter presses a quick peck to Ned’s cheek before getting up to go to his desk to take off his backpack and take off his shoes. As he does so MJ eyes Ned with a silent question. He gives her a small, reassuring smile in answer to the unspoken question.

Things will be okay.

 

* * *

 

**_Life or Death_ **

MJ spends her time alternating between sitting in the surprisingly comfortable waiting room chairs, and pacing the length of the room when she feels too restless to stay put in her seat.

It’s a routine she continues for some unknown stretch of time, until she’s interrupted by Ned rushing into the room.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry MJ. I was in the lab all day and couldn’t get to my phone till just now but I came as fast as I could,” the words stumble out of him as he tries to catch his breath after having presumably run to the medical wing.

“Um-” using her vocal cords feels like a weird sensation after hours of being in a panicked silence. She clears her throat and tries again before realising how dry and scratchy her throat feels.

Ned immediately kicks into action going over to the water fountain in the far corner to get her a cup of water. She watches him as he grabs a cup and pours her the water the whole time but it all feels surreal, she feels detached from what’s happening around her and in front of her.

She’s knocked out of her weird daze-like state by Ned placing a calming hand on her shoulder then gently directing her to go and sit down. She just does as he instructs with no protest, moving to sit in the chair. He then settles in the chair next to hers before instructing her to slowly sip on the water he hands her.

She does just that as they sit in silence, and she appreciates that despite how clearly nervous and anxious he is about Peter, he doesn’t push her for information and allows her to get her bearings first.

When she finishes her water he grabs the cup from her and places it on a nearby table then turns back to her. Finally she speaks to update him on what he's missed, “He’s been in surgery for the last three hours, they said they’d update me when they were finished but so far nothing. May was away in Vermont with Happy but she’s on her way back.”

“It’s okay, he’ll be okay,” Ned tries to reassure her as he rubs a comforting hand across her back.

His presence and touch is comforting but the toll of the day finally catches up to her and before she can stop herself she’s sobbing almost uncontrollably.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Ned moves them around so she can rest her head on his shoulder, then he allows her to just let it all out. He whispers a few words of comfort to her the entire time she cries and continues to rub his hand back and forth across her back between her shoulder blades.

“I can’t do this, Ned,” she breathes out, almost hiccupping.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. They’ll be done operating on him soon and he’ll be good as new and we’ll all forget today ever happened. Peter does this all the time.”

“You didn’t see how bad he was this time, Ned. How lifeless and colorless he was. He was unconscious by the time we got here, Ned!” Some part of her, a distant faraway part at the back of her brain, is aware that she’s starting to become hysterical.

“He always makes it, MJ. He’ll be okay,” Ned tells her in a patient, soft tone.

But it’s not what she needs right now, she feels like she’s not being heard. “No, no,” she says as she moves out of his arms and out of her chair to pace in front of him. “ _You’re not_ \- _he was_ -” she stutters out but she can’t quite get out what she wants to say.

She pauses her pacing and runs an impatient hand over her face, furiously trying to wipe away at the tears that won’t stop falling. “I don’t think I can do this- _this_ …whole being the loved one waiting to find out if my boyfriend is gonna live or not. I’m so sick of worrying about whether Peter is gonna come back to me every time he goes out in that stupid suit. I’m sick of waiting in this stupid waiting room. I’m sick of stupid- stupid _Peter_.”

Once she starts venting and voicing the worries that have been gnawing at her for weeks, _months_ even, she can’t stop. The words just roll out of her uncontrollably, flowing and flowing, being driven by her fear and worry and _anger_.

“Why does he have to put himself in a position where his life is in danger on a near daily basis? He’s so selfish.”

“MJ-”

Ned tries to interject but she won’t let him speak. “He’s so stupid and selfish. I hate him.”

“You don’t mean that, MJ.”

“Yes I do. I hate him,” she repeats more assured this time.

At some point Ned has moved out of his chair and is stood in front of her wrapping his arms around her middle and pulling her into a hug. The height difference between her and Ned is more significant than that between her and Peter so it’s a little awkward to start with but with some adjustments it gets better and they just stay like that for a long stretch of time, as MJ allows her cries to wrack through her body.

They move to sit down again when they get tired of standing there in an awkward hug, and Ned keeps an arm wrapped firmly around MJ even when she’s no longer crying.

“I don’t think I can do this,” she breathes out again. “I can’t keep doing this. What happens if we have kids? Will I have to wait in here with a baby on my hip? It’s not fair.”

“MJ, you’re allowed to be angry and to be nervous at and for Peter but this isn’t the first time you or I have been here.”

“Yeah, that’s the point-”

Ned doesn’t let her carry on, “No, the point is that we’ve been here plenty of times before and Peter always makes it, doesn’t he? Have faith that he’ll make it out of this as well, then you guys can have a serious conversation that’s clearly long overdue about his self-sacrificial ways and how that affects you and your future together. But for now, let’s just get through this part first,” His tone is matter of fact, even and slightly forceful, as forceful as Ned is capable of that is, something which she appreciates because it knocks some sense into her.

“I still hate him,” she says with a small pout.

“Me too but let’s wait for him to make it through this then I’ll help you kick his ass.”

That gets an unexpected laugh out of her, and it doesn’t feel appropriate to be laughing considering the situation and setting but Ned has an uncanny ability to get her to laugh no matter what’s happening around them, propriety be damned.

“God I hate him so much,” she repeats as she slumps further into her seat and burrows her head further into Ned’s shoulder.

“Join the club,” Ned jokes.

She knows that there is a long road ahead, she will have to tell May what happened when she eventually gets here, they’ll have to wait for Peter to come out of this alive and after all of that she needs to sit down and have a long conversation with Peter about his carelessness and their future and so much more.

For now though, she just revels in the stillness of the quiet waiting room, the warmth emanating from Ned’s body along with the comforting weight of his hand which rests on her back, and the calming sound of his slow, even breaths. In and out. In and out. _In and out_.

 

* * *

 

**_Best Person_**

“I don’t know if I can do this. Oh God, I can’t do this!” Ned breathes out voice slightly panicked and rising an octave with each word he gets out. He moves his hands up to fiddle with his collar.

MJ slaps his hands away from his collar so he doesn’t mess up his bow tie that Ned's dad had spent nearly an hour trying to tie for him (he'd insisted he could do it and wouldn't let anyone else do it, including MJ who actually knows how to tie a bow tie). “Don’t mess up your bow tie, you dumbass.”

“I’m having a crisis here and all you’re worried about is the damn bow tie?” Ned asks incredulously.

MJ tries to resist the urge to roll her eyes, she really does, but she can’t stop herself and does so anyway. “You’re not having a crisis."

“Yes I am! I’m having cold feet, MJ! Hello!” Ned tries to insist with urgency.

“Ned you called me at the end of your first date with Betty back in junior year after you dropped her home to tell me you were and I quote “ _500% sure I’m gonna marry this girl one day, MJ_ ”. You’re not having cold feet, trust me.”

“That was years ago MJ, things change. I’ve changed! And my best man isn’t even here, this is all gonna go so wrong I just know it,” his tone is sounding more and more panicked.

“I’m here,” MJ fires back.

Ned rolls his eyes, “Yes you’re here but I obviously meant my _other_ best man. Y’know, Peter Parker? Your boyfriend? The friendly neighborhood-” he doesn’t finish his words and instead makes vague gestures as if he’s shooting webs out of his hands in place of saying 'Spider-Man'.

“You said your “ _other best man_ ”, I’m not a man,” MJ retorts and she knows she’s being slightly childish but over the years she’s found that the best way to talk Ned down is to distract him so that’s what she’s doing- distracting him. Then they can talk about what’s actually happening here once he’s calmed down enough.

“Oh my God,” Ned groans. “I meant my other best man slash woman.”

“Person or the plural people, as in best people, is gender neutral and way easier and quicker to say than “best man slash woman”.”

“You’re being childish, MJ.”

“No, _you’re_ being childish,” she fires back. She has to stifle a giggle at the sight they make, two adults in their 20s arguing like elementary school kids in a playground.

Ned watches her with narrowed eyes, mouth drawn into a thin line with a slightly frustrated expression, and she hold his gaze wearing a matching expression. They stay like that for a beat…then two…then they both simultaneously burst out in uncontrollable laughter. They laugh for a few minutes, both hunched over and clutching their stomachs and it’s a good thing they’re alone in this room because they likely look certifiable.

Eventually the laughter dies down and Ned sits down in his chair. Good, he’s no longer pacing meaning he’s calmed down now.

“So, what’s going on?” MJ gently probes, voice soft and even.

“Am I good enough for Betty?”

MJ is momentarily taken aback by the question because that’s not what she thought his panic was about. She quickly recovers though, “What do you mean?”

“I mean-” he sighs, continues on, “I just, I feel like sometimes Betty is too good for me and like miles out of my league, you know. And by marrying her, am I just holding her back? I don’t wanna hold her back if there’s better out there for her.”

MJ comes to crouch in front of his seat and rests her hands on top of his which rest in his lap. “Ned, you and Betty are so perfectly matched for each other that it’s borderline, no it is _definitely_ sickening just how perfect you are for each other. You won’t be holding Betty back by marrying her because there is no one better for her out there. You're it for her,” Ned looks at her disbelievingly so she adds on, “She told me that herself.”

That gets her a small sigh of relief and it’s ridiculous how even at their age he still needs that “did she tell you that?" reassurance, but she won’t ridicule him because she gets like that about Peter sometimes when that unwelcome doubt creeps in.

“Yeah?” Ned asks, all hopeful.

“When have you ever known me to tell people even white lies just to make them feel better, Ned?”

He smiles at that, a wide grin that looks like it must hurt his cheeks. “You’re right.”

“Of course I’m right,” and she rolls her eyes because, _duh_.

“You know how you said that Betty and I are sickeningly perfect for each other?”

“Yeah…” she’s not sure where this is going.

Ned still has a grin plastered on his face, “I feel that way about you and Peter. The two of you are so perfect for each other and are kind of like the gold standard, you know? You’re just Peter and MJ, MJ and Peter, P-”

“If you start making portmanteaus of mine and Peter’s names, or coming up with dumb ship names I am gonna punch you in the face then you’ll have to have a black eye on your wedding and in all your wedding photos,” she interrupts, levelling him with a threatening glare to let him know she’s not joking.

“Okay, okay, I won’t,” he says putting his hands up in surrender. She thinks that’s it but Ned starts up again, “So when will you and Peter get married?”

“Oh my God,” MJ groans.

“I’m asking what everyone’s gonna be wondering- _when are Peter and MJ gonna tie the knot next_?” he says in a weird voice that she guesses is meant to represent the average Brant-Leeds wedding guest?

MJ’s rubs her temples to tamper down the headache that’s starting to form, “I am begging you, _please_ shut up.”

“I’m just saying, you guys got together not long after us so it reasons that you guys are gonna be next to get married. The two of you have always needed that external push to get your shit together when it comes to your relationship, so I’m just giving you that that’s all.”

MJ gets up from where she was crouching in front of Ned and straightens her dress out then starts to walk away.

“MJ I know you want to marry Peter, and he wants the same but it won’t happen unless one of you does something.”

“Peter should’ve been back by now, it was a pretty straightforward robbery so I don't know what's taking him so long,” she says, blatantly trying to change topics.

“Em-”

“You know what, I’m gonna go and call him, he’s slacking as a best person and we can’t keep holding up the wedding,” she says before all but running out of the room and away from Ned’s probing questions about her relationship.

**Author's Note:**

> To this day I maintain that Ned and MJ become friends first then from that Peter and MJ will get together!!! Hope you enjoyed this latest piece (and yes this is now a series, what of it). As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated!!!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and on twitter @dayaspsychic


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